Just Thinking...

... that the stories behind Christmas traditions, whether factual or legend, are almost as fun as the traditions themselves. I was just reading a poem I wrote about jolly old Saint Nick (when he was merely a young, shy bishop) to our writer's support group and the story is just as fun today as it was when I first discovered it four years ago. How quickly we evangelicals tend to throw the baby out with the bath water...

... that our relationships with other people should mirror God's relationship with us. We should forgive, accept, show grace, encourage, look after, etc., each other the way God does for us.

... that what I just wrote is easier said than done.

... that sometimes it is more meaningful to sit and chat with someone than to try to teach them something. Who knows, maybe through the very act of conversation, you have taught them something!

... that legalism kills. So many of my friends and associates have come from a law-driven background into the message of the grace of God but they still struggle with guilt and performance. Rules are nice and they generally keep us away from harm, but they can kill our spiritual energy and prevent us from bathing in the all-sufficient grace of God. It is only by God's grace that we stand and only into His grace that we fall.